The Drums

Brookynite buzz boys The Drums are Anglophiles enough that they count the relatively obscure Factory/Sarah Records band The Wake as one of their primary influences alongside better-known contemporaries like The Smiths and Orange Juice. A listen to their self-titled debut suggests they're also at least passingly familiar with early China Crisis, The Farmers Boys, Altered Images and Haircut 100: these 12 songs are built on layers of perky keyboards, chiming guitars and that flat, deadened drum sound that was inescapable a quarter-century ago. These combine underneath singer-songwriter Jonny Pierce's agreeably whiny, faux-English-accented vocals and the lashings of reverb that swath the whole thing in layers of downy fuzz to create a sound that wishes 1985 had never ended. It's all so pleasantly retro that it takes a few listens to realize that the songwriting is of unfortunately variable quality. For every "Book of Stories" or "Forever and Ever Amen," where the hooks are meaty enough to stick in the listener's mind, there's at least a couple of songs where all the clever synth-pop pastiches are hiding a lack of memorable original ideas. And occasionally, as on the draggy electro-ballad "Down By The Water," Pierce's warbly vocal tics move from endearing to downright annoying. Overall, however, those not offended by the Drums' unabashedly revivalist spirit will find at least a little bit to love here.